Friday, January 23, 2009

The Fox

I've seen "the fox" north of the house out in the field a number of times. He/she walks from the west toward the east early in the morning. Sometimes she seems to get close to the north loafing shed. I've seen footprints of "something" that walks mostly on top of the snow that we've had. They appear to be fox size or maybe skunk size or cat size (oh yes, I've smelled the skunk around before too).

This morning when I went out to feed, it was a little later than usual, probably 9:45 or so. By the time I made it to the yearling boys to the east of the barn it was probably about 10. As I was taking their hay out I heard a strange noise, kind of like a crow with a hoarse "caw" or a dog with a funny bark. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention until I looked at Azugar the older male alpaca. He was giving his "alarm" call that he does on a regular basis (I think he does it for practice, no one else has ever given the "alarm" call). Anyway I looked toward the old railroad car & discovered something was walking close by. I froze as it was about 25 ft. away. Sure enough, it was the fox. She was so pretty, bright red with a fluffy tail. She stopped & sat by the railroad car. I suddenly wondered where Jamie was as she typically follows me out to feed the boys..........luckily Jamie had stayed in the barn. I went over & shut the barn door to make sure she didn't come out. When I turned around the fox was gone. Perhaps I should take my camera along when I feed these days.

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